Desktop Marketer enables you to create and send rich-text messages with all the features of HTML e-mail or web pages. Your messages can contain color text, pictures, hyperlinks, and even dynamic components such as Flash animations and sound files. You can import existing messages from your HTML editing software or create your own from scratch.
And with Desktop Marketer 2.0, you can use "merge fields" to automatically merge personal information about each contact into the subject line, pop-up notification window, and body of every message you send. For example, you can address each contact individually by name or include their e-mail address or the current date in any message. (For more information, read About Personalizing Messages.)
Another extremely powerful feature of Desktop Marketer is the program's ability to send "self-contained" HTML messages to a contact's desktop. Unlike e-mail messages, which must be "linked" to a web page in order to display separate documents such as images and Flash animations, Desktop Marketer messages are delivered in a single, complete file -- meaning that contacts always see your full message with no broken links, even if their computer is not connected to the Internet.
Desktop Marketer messages can support the following features:
Formatted, full-color text
Color images
HTML newsletter or web page layout
Links to web sites, order forms, and other online materials
Merge fields to add contact information to messages and notifications
You have a wide variety of options for creating messages. You can compose a message directly in the Message Editor, or you can create a message in another HTML editing application such as Dreamweaver, then import it into Desktop Marketer. If you prefer not to create your own messages from scratch, you can start with one of Desktop Marketer's preformatted templates, then customize it to create your own newsletter, promotion, or other message.
Create and Post a Message from a Template
Import and Post an Existing Message
At any time before you post a message, you can click the Preview button to see exactly how your message will look to your contacts.
If you are using the Lite version of Desktop Marketer, you will be able to post a new message at any time, replacing any previous messages you have sent. With the Pro version, you get advanced options for managing and tracking messages, including the ability to:
Create and store multiple messages to be displayed simultaneously in your contacts' inboxes
Schedule messages to be sent at a future date or to "expire" and be automatically deleted from your contacts' inboxes
Track the number of contacts who have received each message notification
Track the number of contacts who have "clicked through" each notification to view the message
Enable or disable viewing of any message at any time
One of the greatest benefits of the Pro version is that you are always in control of what messages your customers are able to view. You can select the date and time when each new message will become available to your customers. And for time-sensitive messages, you can set an expiration date and time to ensure that your customers never read out-of-date messages.
Next topic: About Personalizing Messages